I gave it everything I had (by my standards, anyway). The pain was unlike anything I’d ever felt before, but I pulled through knowing Bitsy (name TBD) would be waiting for me when it was all said and done.
After struggling and struggling and then struggling a little more, I was greeted by a vigorous cry and Doctor Granny’s voice declaring, “It’s a girl!” Just hearing that was enough to make everything I’d gone through feel worth it. Now I understood what my in-laws were thinking when they said the gender didn’t matter as long as the baby came out healthy and strong.
I was truly, truly grateful that she had been born without incident. And though I was too exhausted to so much as lift a finger, I seemed to be doing all right myself.
Will Mr. Fisalis be happy with a girl, though? Speaking of which, I don’t see him anywhere, so I hope someone remembered to tell him. Either way, the fact that he’s not here must mean he didn’t make it in time... Fingers crossed he’s not too torn up about missing the big moment. Here he was always telling my tummy, “Make sure to wait until Daddy gets home,” but it ended up happening almost right after he’d left for work.
All sorts of thoughts ran through my head in a daze, and before I knew it, I’d drifted off to sleep.
What mattered right now was that I was tired. There was only one word to describe me in that moment: exhausted.
✦ ✦ ✦
“...Vi... Vi...”
“Hm...?”
Oh... I hear someone calling out to me. Umm, what was I doing again? Oh, right—I just had my baby. My brain’s so foggy that I can’t even remember things right.
Last thing I remember, I was so bushed I fell right asleep. Or I lost consciousness, if we want to get pedantic. Right now, the person calling my name is...Mr. Fisalis, I think? I guess he ditched work to come home. Earlier I was worried nobody had let him know, but he’d never let that fly. Of course he’d make sure someone would contact him, so he must have headed back as soon as he heard.
I cracked my eyes open, and the first thing to enter my vision were his dark-brown eyes swimming with concern. Yeah, I knew it was him.
He was kneeling beside my bed, holding my hand in his.
“Cercis... Are you done with work for the day?”
“Not exactly. I left as soon as I got the news.”
“What about your duties?”
“Don’t worry; I have Corydalis slaving away as we speak.”
Called that one! I know this is par for the course, but I’m sorry you’re stuck with a guy like this for a boss, Corydalis! And that you’re stuck with him for a master, Stellaria!
I inwardly apologized to Corydalis and Stellaria.
Though he deserved a lecture for shirking his duties, I couldn’t deny it made me happy to see that he cared even more about me than his super important job. (But I still felt sorry for Corydalis!)
Knowing Mr. Fisalis, he must have bolted right out of there.
Our little talk about him abandoning his responsibilities would have to wait until later, though. There were bigger things to be worrying about right now.
“Did you see the baby?”
“Yeah. She’s a pretty little girl, that one.”
“I’m sorry I couldn’t give you a boy. But she’s in good shape, at least.”
I know he said he didn’t care about the gender before she was born, but is he disappointed now that it’s actually turned out to be a girl? I wondered to myself, feeling a little discouraged.
Yet all Mr. Fisalis said to me was, “Thanks for giving us a healthy child.”
He beamed at me, the look in his gorgeous chocolate-brown eyes softening. It was almost too dazzling a sight for my weary eyes—ahem, I mean, scratch that part! The smile stretching across his features was really as gentle as could be. It was like his entire being was emanating an aura of joy.
Good. He’s just as happy about this as I am.
“By the way, I don’t think I saw you around when the baby came, but did you manage to make it in time?”
“Well, about that...”
“About that?”
“When the courier arrived from the manor, I happened to be in the middle of a royal council. It was the exact wrong moment to take the message!”
“Oh no... Bad timing, huh?”
“You said it. Once the meeting was done, I read his note and dropped everything to get here, but I ended up missing the main event by a hair.”
“Ack...”
“I heard her first cry from the other side of the door, at least.”
“Hmm... It’s tough to say whether that counts as being here for it or not.”
“It clearly doesn’t! I can see that girl’s got an attitude problem already, disobeying her father from the very moment she’s born! No, wait... Since she made the delivery easy on her mother, perhaps she’s a good girl, after all?”
“Aha ha ha ha!”
✦ ✦ ✦
Mr. Fisalis’s sullen grumblings had me cracking up.
A safe delivery makes her a pretty good girl in my book!
“Did that really count as an ‘easy’ delivery, though? It was awful! I’m telling you, it hurt so bad I thought the world was going to end!”
Though I indignantly protested that nothing that painful should be considered “easy,” Mr. Fisalis replied, “Apparently that was easy, going by what the doctor said. It didn’t take much time either.”
“What, really? Now that you mention it, I have no idea what time it is right now.”
“It’s just past noon.”
Now that answer I hadn’t seen coming.
What? That’s it?!
“Huh? It’s still afternoon?! Wow, I lost all sense of time...”
I knew the mind-numbing pain had probably messed with my perceptions, but I never would have guessed so little time had passed. I was shocked to hear how early in the day it was.
“According to Dahlia, you went into labor almost immediately after I left, and the birth went smoothly from there.”
“Seriously...? I could’ve sworn it took longer than that.”
I watched Mr. Fisalis leave for work, started having contractions right afterwards, fought and fought, and yet it was still only midday? What felt like an eternity to me had only lasted half a day at most?!
My suffering aside, no wonder that was classified as an easy delivery.
“That’s precisely why I didn’t make it here in time.”
Now it was Mr. Fisalis’s turn to be indignant. I could see he was holding a grudge over the fact that we’d failed to wait for him.
“Speaking of which... After all those times you told her to ‘wait for Daddy,’ she went ahead without you anyway, huh? Hee hee... I bet she was itching to meet you that much sooner, that’s all.”
“Sure, let’s go with that.”
✦ ✦ ✦
While I was talking with my husband, the servants tended to our baby’s every need, giving the little one her first bath and wrapping her up in the swaddling clothes I’d sewn. Dahlia, Stellaria, and the rest of the maids continued to scurry this way and that, carrying out the doctor’s orders.
I waited there with bated breath until at last Dahlia brought in the baby, fully clothed and ready to face the world, and laid her down beside me.
Her eyes were shut in a peaceful sleep, her miniature hands curled into fists. Even as tiny as she was, it was still hard to believe I’d carried a girl of her size in my belly. And it was equally hard to believe that such an eensy-weensy thing had let out such a strong, powerful cry.
Only now did a surge of emotion finally creep over me. Earlier, I’d been too occupied with battling pain and fatigue to process anything happening.
She’s so small and cute.
Seeing as I’d passed out immediately after giving birth, it felt like I was meeting her for the very first time.
Hi there, little Bitsy!
“Her hair is just like her father’s—a beautiful dark-brown.”
Her eyes were shut in sleep, framed by long lashes, so we couldn’t tell what color they were just yet. Between her plump and rosy cheeks, her perfectly full lips, and her unblemished fair skin, she was a pretty little thing. Why, yes, I am patting myself on the back here—problem?
“But I’d say she takes after you overall,” Mr. Fisalis remarked as he peered down into her face.
“Please no—I’d feel terrible for her! Let’s pray she inherited your looks!”
Mr. Fisalis refrained from commenting.
Destined to be a plain Jane from the moment she’s born? That would be way too cruel a fate!